CHENNAI: With incessant rainfall
throwing life haywire in Tamil Nadu, CBSE schools in the state have suggested
shortening the syllabus and setting up separate exam papers for Tamil Nadu
students.

There has been an
estimated loss of 26 working days, and schools are of the opinion that any
number of additional hours will not help compensate for the lost time.
According to a teacher at one of the prominent schools, they may discontinue
all extra-curricular activities, and focus on class 12th board
examinations.From November 7 to December 7, the schools and colleges in the
city have remained closed.

The state government has already postponed the half yearly
exams of the state board schools. The CBSE schools in the state are approaching
the Board for seeking solution to this crisis. Few schools like
Bhavans Rajaji Vidyashramhave already met officials from CBSE, to consult them
for seeking a solution. Shree Niketan Group of schools has sought a uniform
advisory from the CBSE board.

CBSE Regional officer K Srinivasan said that the Board has
been updated with the current state of affairs in the state, and a decision
shall be out soon. The CBSE recently pushed the group mathematics Olympiad that
was scheduled for December 6 to December 20 for Chennai centre alone.

Certain schools did conduct online classes during the
holidays for the purpose of revision, but not all schools and students have had
access to the internet. Teachers and parents hence fear that this may not be
enough. Innumerable students and schools have lost their books and other
documents during floods.

Minoo Agarwal, Principal of DAV Public School in Velachery,
said that the entire ground floor of the school has been waterlogged. The
administrative block, library and certain classrooms are still inaccessible.
There is no way to reach these sections of the school and check the books and
files inside. She fears that she isn't
very hopeful of the school reopening even by the end of next week.

At IIT Madras, the 1st phase of placements shall
continue from January 6 to January 16, which was suspended after interviews
were held on December 1. The second phase will begin from January 20. The
institution issued a statement that all students are safe inside the campus,
and the campus is almost free from water-logging.

Anna University has postponed its semester examinations. All
539 affiliated colleges have to follow the schedule, irrespective of whether
they are a part of flood hit areas or not.